Federal-State Marketing Improvement Program (FSMIP)

Big idea: Funds are used to explore barriers, challenges, and opportunities in marketing, transporting, and distributing food and forest products.

Who can apply: State Departments of Agriculture, but they often partner with local organizations, so see your State Department of Agriculture website for more information.

Possibilities: Given the broad flexibility of this program, there are many possibilities for projects, including:

Determining market demand for local products;

Building online marketing tools such MarketMaker;

Developing protocols for harvesting excess crops for local food banks;

Developing business plans for food hubs.

Real Example: The Maryland Department of Agriculture, in partnership with the University of Maryland School of Nursing, Future Harvest/Chesapeake Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture, and others, received $100,620 to increase the use of locally-produced sustainable proteins such as beef, pork, poultry, dairy, eggs, and seafood in Maryland health care facilities. This grant built upon two previous FSMIP grants facilitating increase consumption of locally-produced foods in Maryland hospitals.